Typically, faucet spouts and other plumbing fixtures are made from zinc, brass, or stainless steel castings or stampings, the outer surfaces of which are deburred, cleaned, polished, and buffed, and which may be then provided with decorative finishes.
Commonly, such fixtures made from zinc die castings are provided with decorative finishes by being electroplated with successive copper, nickel, and chromium layers. Commonly, such fixtures made from brass castings are provided with decorative finishes by being electroplated with nickel/chromium, brass with a clear coat or gold alloys, which have been found to be more durable than exposed brass. Alternatively, such fixtures made from such castings or stampings are coated with a polymeric material, such as an epoxy, which may be electrostatically applied, as a powder, and thermoset after it has been applied, and which may be clear, white, black, or otherwise colored.
Where such a polymeric material is not applied, it is known to provide such a fixture with relatively smooth, overall surfaces and with relatively rough, overall surfaces, by protecting the blasting the overall surfaces to be relatively rough, as with abrasive particles in an air stream.
Where such a polymeric material is not applied, it also is known to place a stencil against a given surface of such a plumbing fixture, without causing the stencil to adhere to such surface, and to blast the stencil, as with abrasive particles in an air stream, so as to inscribe a manufacturer's logo on such surface.
Where such a polymeric material is applied, which is white, black, or otherwise colored, it is known to mask edge portions of such a plumbing fixture, as with masks adhering removably to such portions, while applying the polymeric material, so as to produce visual contrast between the coated and uncoated portions of the fixture.
Although faucet spouts and other plumbing fixtures can be beautifully decorated by known methods including those methods described above, it is submitted that those methods cannot be effectively used for providing a sharply defined, ornamental design on an expansive surface of such a plumbing fixture, wherein the ornamental design is defined sharply by color-contrasted portions of the expansive surface.
It should be here noted that most if not all metals and metal alloys are various shades of red, gray, or yellow. Thus, copper is red, whereas zinc, silver, nickel, chromium, and aluminum are various shades of gray, and whereas brass and gold alloys are various shades of yellow. Any of a palette of colors are obtainable with polymeric coating materials.